John Curless

One man's view of the British Army in Germany - the social life, discipline, drink, women and, occasionally, the defence of the West.

In Yorkshire during the twenties, it seems that everyone who holds a driver's licence wants to run his own private bus company, and young Jim Stone is no exception.

The jealous King Leontes falsely accuse his wife Hermione of infidelity with his best friend, and she dies. Leontes exiles his newborn daughter Perdita, who is raised by shepherds for sixteen years and falls in love with the son of Leontes' friend. When Perdita returns home, a statue of Hermione "comes to life", and everyone is reconciled.

Richard II, who ascended the throne as a child, is a regal and stately monarch. He believes he is the rightful ruler of England, ordained by God, yet he is a weak and ineffective king - wasteful in his spending habits, unwise in his choise of chansellors, and detached from his country and its people. When he seizes the land of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, both the commoners and the barons decide that their king has gone too far...

'It's like the Sealed Knot innit, it's historical.' A group of World War II enthusiasts forgather in the Lake District to do battle with a similarly devoted group of Waffen SS, especially imported from Gravesend. Of course, Windermere 1979 is not Normandy 1944, but for some, perhaps wishing will make it so?

A musician who lost his hands falls for a woman whose technologically adept friends help him make a comeback.

In a Cheshire village, Jack, an electrician, is rewiring the house where a dissident Russian professor is staying. From mutual dislike and suspicion they move towards tolerance and eventually mutual respect.

In 1960, at the age of 56, Dr. Barbara Moore became a national hero by walking from John O'Groats to Land's End. One of the last great English eccentrics, even though she was Russian.